DMAA Not Dangerous After All

DMAA, also known as methylhexanamine or “geranamine” is a controversial stimulant ingredient used in weight loss and energy supplements. In April of this year the FDA made a strong statement regarding its health dangers and its lack of legal standing as a nutritional supplement. Companies selling DMAA products for the most part stopped selling the stuff, and those who didn’t fully comply were subject to harsh enforcement actions by the FDA.

It took a long time for the FDA to act on DMAA, and that was in large part due to the fact that they really didn’t have clear cut evidence that the product was dangerous. Outcries by certain people that claimed the product was responsible for various adverse medical events and deaths however became louder and louder. These claims were not substantiated by any medical evidence though and so were not enough for the FDA to act upon.

The most publicized adverse health events regarding DMAA involved the US military. The deaths of four servicemen were being blamed on DMAA. As a consequence, the department of defense commissioned a safety study on the compound to determine whether it indeed was dangerous and to blame for the soldiers’ deaths (as well as other medical incidents involving soldiers). This was to be the study that the FDA could rest its hat on and justify an emergency action against DMAA.

Things started getting strange though. The study was supposed to be finished in February 2012. That date came and went and no word on the study results were announced. Then word came that the study was taking longer than expected and would be done in December 2012. Well December 2012 came around and still no word. Months passed and no one seemed to be talking about the huge DOD study that was supposed to prove once and for all that DMAA was deadly.
Then in April 2013 the FDA announced that it considered DMAA illegal to sell and warned of a whole variety of potential health risks. No mention of the DOD study which was supposed to provide the scientific validation was made – the FDA announcement was based simply on theory.

What happened to the DOD study? Well, in August the results were finally released (four months after the FDA’s arbitrary action). They were released with such lack of fanfare and media coverage that even I was not aware of the results until just today (almost two months later). Essentially they found that despite a high apparent usage of DMAA by soldiers (as much as 15 percent) the substance at doses recommended by manufacture poses a low risk of serious harm for most service members. The study basically exonerated DMAA from being responsible for the deaths of the four soldiers. They cautioned though that the “potential” of DMAA to cause harm still exists and ongoing studies would be needed to fully understand the health issues (I guess two years wasn’t enough).

Anyway, I have my own take on this situation. I think it was clear quite a while ago that the DOD study was not going to provide the smoking gun that was expected and hoped for. At that point the results were kept hush hush and the FDA decided to act anyway against DMAA. Then they waited four months to quietly announce the study results – so quietly that it took me six weeks to even be aware of them.

Well, in this scientific society nowadays, I'd like to see the FDA try and ban something without any medical documentation of it's "harmfulness". LOL, our 4th branch of government is lookin fairly incompetent these days.

Might just be able to do without them on alot of matters. They should just keep a close eye on our food, lol. Just the Food Administration. I'm afraid they aren't qualified for drugs anymore.

I remember the good old days of jack3d. Great supplement , but received a lot of criticism for its DMAA content. From a personal perspective, jack3d caused some health problems for me, primarily the inability to get a strong erection. I switched to a DMAA free product and the problem stopped immediately. Not saying that by any means my testimony serves as scientific evidence of DMAA's negative effects, and by no means does this prove that DMAA is the real villain, but the exoneration of DMAA as a suspect on the military deaths does not mean that it does not have negative effects. Personally, it seems that in my case DMAA was to blame for my problem. I think it's too soon to say that DMAA isn't at all dangerous. In my opinion, anything that screws with your Johnson must have some potentially harmful ingredient in it.

I remember the good old days of jack3d. Great supplement , but received a lot of criticism for its DMAA content. From a personal perspective, jack3d caused some health problems for me, primarily the inability to get a strong erection. I switched to a DMAA free product and the problem stopped immediately. Not saying that by any means my testimony serves as scientific evidence of DMAA's negative effects, and by no means does this prove that DMAA is the real villain, but the exoneration of DMAA as a suspect on the military deaths does not mean that it does not have negative effects. Personally, it seems that in my case DMAA was to blame for my problem. I think it's too soon to say that DMAA isn't at all dangerous. In my opinion, anything that screws with your Johnson must have some potentially harmful ingredient in it.

if you ever looked up anything about dmaa, youd know its a vasoconstrictor stimulant. that meants no blood to penor = no erection

yohimbe is a vaso dialator in the pelvis area. so since it creates raging boners, does that make it safe? hells no

I'm prescribed adderall and it's pretty easy to get prescribed it and you don't even have to have ADD anymore. Sub-par performance in high school or college will get the Doctors signature. So, I don't understand what's wrong with DMAA it's not even close to being as harmful as Adderall, Vyvanse, etc. but yet it's just as easy to obtain as amphetamines? Personally, DMAA won't do **** for me even in high doses but that's cause I got a 35mg Adderall tolerance

I'm prescribed adderall and it's pretty easy to get prescribed it and you don't even have to have ADD anymore. Sub-par performance in high school or college will get the Doctors signature. So, I don't understand what's wrong with DMAA it's not even close to being as harmful as Adderall, Vyvanse, etc. but yet it's just as easy to obtain as amphetamines? Personally, DMAA won't do **** for me even in high doses but that's cause I got a 35mg Adderall tolerance

Great article!!! What a waste of time for the FDA! Removing product from the market that they have no proof killed people is just malicious! I know its wishful thinking, but I hope USPlabs and GNC fight the FDA, now that the DOD released their findings, and go back to selling/distributing the original formula for Jack3D and Oxyelite; since I love these products and continue to use them to this day (luckily I stocked up a large supply).

If it works dont tell people about it. Lol. Rumor spreads and then its banned cause somone dies from irregular reasons.... then people get scared and they start blaming the product on retarded things because all the focus is on it.
If it works. Keep it to yourself. :)